A logo in Nepal carries two different rights. The trade mark right is granted by the Department of Industry when you register. The copyright in the drawing exists from the moment it is created. Confusing the two is the expensive mistake here.
Key takeaways
- You register a logo by filing it as a trade mark at the Department of Industry under the Patent, Design and Trade Mark Act 1965.
- Sec. 16(1) says title to a trade mark is acquired upon registration, which is what makes Nepal a first-to-file country.
- Copyright in the artwork is different. Sec. 5 of the Copyright Act 2002 says registration shall not be required to acquire that right.
- Only about 4% of Nepal's published marks are logo-only. The usual filing is the logo and the name together.
- One application covers one NICE classification category, under Sec. 18A(2).
- The registration runs seven years from registration under Sec. 18D, and the renewal term under Sec. 23B may be repeated.
- Redraw the logo substantially and you are looking at a fresh application, because the registration protects what you filed.
How do you register a logo as a trademark in Nepal?
You file it as a trade mark, not a "logo registration". There is no separate logo register in Nepal, and the Department of Industry treats the graphic as one thing a trade mark may be.
The route is the ordinary one: an application under Sec. 17 with four specimens, examination, publication in the Industrial Property Bulletin, an objection stage, then the registration certificate.
What differs from a word filing is the artwork. The Department registers the representation you send, so the file you attach becomes the scope of your right.
What does the Act actually let you register?
Sec. 2(c) defines a trade mark as a word, symbol, or picture or a combination thereof, used by any firm, company or individual on its products or services to distinguish them from others.
A logo fits inside "symbol" and "picture", and a logo locked up with a name fits "a combination thereof". That is the whole statutory basis.
Notice what the definition asks for: the sign has to distinguish. A drawing that depicts the product, or copies ordinary trade decoration, describes rather than distinguishes.
Should you file the logo alone or the logo with the name?
Usually this is settled before anybody thinks about it. A device filing covers the graphic alone; a combined filing covers the graphic and words in the arrangement you submit.
The combined filing clears examination more easily, because the words add distinctiveness. It is also narrower, since the right is to that lock-up rather than either element alone.
Is it worth filing both formats?
Often, yes. A device filing is harder to obtain and more useful once held, because it survives a rebrand of the wording, and many established Nepali brands end up with both as separate applications.
That is two applications in one category, so it is a real decision. Weigh it against how often the graphic appears without the words, the test the logo against brand note works through.
What does Nepal's published record show about that choice?
That the logo-only filing is rare. Across the more than 120 Industrial Property Bulletin issues we index, 63% of 71,500+ published entries are combined word-and-logo marks and 33% are word-only.
Device-only marks account for 2,873 entries, about 4%. The standard Nepali filing is not a logo at all; it is a logo with a name printed on it.
These are IP Sewa counts of published entries, not official Department of Industry statistics, and show no registration status. Check a competitor's choice with the owner search.
Is your logo also protected by copyright?
Almost certainly, and independently of anything the Department of Industry does. The Copyright Act 2002 defines a work to include fine arts, painting, works of applied art and illustration.
Sec. 5(1) of that Act is the sentence to remember: registration of a work shall not be required to acquire the right under the Act. The right arises with the drawing, and Sec. 5(2) makes registration voluntary.
That is the opposite of the trade mark position, where Sec. 16(1) gives title only on registration. IP Sewa does not handle copyright filings, so send a copyright question through contact and we will point you onward.
Who owns the artwork if a freelancer drew it?
Read the contract first, then the statute. Sec. 6(1) of the Copyright Act 2002 makes the author the first owner of the economic right, which by default is the designer rather than the business.
Sec. 6(2) lists specific exceptions to that rule, but payment alone should not be relied on to transfer the economic right in a logo. Sec. 24(1) transfers economic rights "by making a written agreement", and the designer's moral rights under Sec. 8 stay with the designer either way.
Whether a particular engagement falls inside an exception is a question of fact and contract, and one for an advocate. The practical answer does not change: get a written assignment before you file.
Where do the two rights stop overlapping?
They protect different things, and neither substitutes for the other. The table sets out the comparison that matters next.
| Question | Trade mark at the DoI | Copyright in the artwork |
|---|---|---|
| When does the right arise? | On registration, under Sec. 16(1) | On creation, registration not required |
| What does it protect? | The sign as a source identifier | The original expression in the drawing |
| Tied to goods or services? | Yes, one NICE category per filing | No |
| Who decides it? | The Department of Industry | Courts, on the Copyright Act 2002 |
| Does the idea count? | No, the mark as filed counts | No, a concept or principle is excluded |
| How long does it run? | Seven years, renewable | Long-term, on the statutory formula |
| Does IP Sewa handle it? | Yes, this is our work | No, ask us and we will refer you. |
Copyright stops a copyist reproducing your drawing. Only the trade mark stops a competitor using a confusingly similar sign on the same goods, and most disputes are the second kind. Neither rescues a weak design.
Which NICE class does a logo go in?
The same class your goods or services go in, because the logo is not classified separately. Sec. 18A(1) lets the government adopt a classification by Nepal Gazette notification.
Sec. 18A(2) then requires a separate application for each category, so a brand used on clothing and on a restaurant is two filings whatever the artwork looks like.
Start from what you actually sell. The AI class classifier gives a first view, and choosing the right class covers the judgement.
How do you file the application?
At the Department of Industry, one category at a time, before the signage order goes out.
- Finish the artwork. File the final version, since the registration protects what you submit.
- Clear it properly. Run the words through the conflict checker, then look at similar devices.
- Settle the format. Device, combined, or both as separate applications.
- Pick the categories. Since Sec. 18A(2) allows one per application, count them first.
- File the bundle. Sec. 17 asks for the prescribed application together with four specimens of the mark.
- Answer the examination. The Department may raise distinctiveness, an earlier mark, or the goods wording.
- Follow it through publication. The objection stage comes before registration.
What documents does a logo filing need?
A Nepali applicant supplies the prescribed form, four specimens, the certificate or permit for the business, and a company's internal approval where required.
Where somebody files for you, the Department's form asks for an अधिकारनामा, a power of attorney, and Sec. 20 makes that attorney's acts your own.
A foreign company files nationally through a representative, because Sec. 21B says title to a mark registered abroad is not valid here until registered here. Sec. 21C allows registration on a foreign certificate without enquiries.
What happens after the Department accepts the mark?
It is published. Sec. 21A has the Department publish registered designs and trade marks, with particulars of renewal or cancellation, publicly.
A published trade mark can be opposed within a 90-day opposition window from publication; rely on the deadline the Department of Industry states and act before the last day.
A device draws a different objection from a word mark, because similarity is judged on overall visual impression. Read the published issues through the trademark database search.
How long does it last, and how is it renewed?
Seven years under Sec. 18D, running from registration and not from the date you filed. That gap is wide enough to matter when setting a reminder.
The renewal term under Sec. 23B may be repeated, so the registration is renewable for as long as you use it. Renewal falls due within 35 days of expiry, with a further six-month window on payment of a fine.
Sec. 18C adds a use requirement, since a mark not used within one year of registration can be cancelled after inquiry. Our renewal service keeps those dates in view.
What happens if you redesign the logo?
A material redesign needs a fresh application. The registration attaches to the representation on file, so a new emblem is a new mark however much continuity the marketing team feels it has.
Minor production tidying is usually harmless, but do not assume it is covered. Changing the symbol, lettering or arrangement changes the overall impression an examiner compares.
This is the strongest argument for filing the name separately, because a word registration survives every redesign.
Can you print ® or ™ on a Nepali logo?
Careful here, because the Act says less than the symbols suggest. Neither ® nor ™ appears in the Patent, Design and Trade Mark Act 1965, and it sets out no marking notice.
It does state a prohibition. Sec. 18B provides that no trade mark may be used as a registered trade mark without registering it at the Department, and Sec. 19 backs that with a fine and confiscation of the goods.
So the risk runs the other way from what people assume, and registered against unregistered marks sets out the difference.
Common mistakes
- Filing a draft. The registration protects the file you sent, so send the final one.
- Assuming the invoice transferred the artwork. Get a written assignment.
- Treating company registration as protection. A trade name is not a trade mark.
- Filing only the combined lock-up when the graphic is used alone on the app icon.
- Drawing the product. A plain momo or a generic mountain distinguishes nothing.
- Launching first. Nepal is first-to-file, and the queue does not care who used it.
A worked example
This is an illustration, not a real case. A Kathmandu bakery commissions a wheat-and-flame emblem from a freelance designer and files a combined mark showing it beside the shop name.
Two years later it drops the name and uses the emblem alone. The combined registration is a weaker fit, because the right is to the lock-up the Department registered.
Worse, the designer never signed anything. With no signed assignment, the bakery cannot show it owns the artwork — a question for an advocate rather than for a negotiation under pressure.
Two pieces of paper would have prevented both: a written assignment at the start, and a second application for the device alone.
In short
Register the logo as a trade mark at the Department of Industry, in the category your goods or services fall into, and file the final artwork. Sec. 16(1) starts the right at registration.
Handle the artwork ownership separately and in writing, because copyright arises on creation under the Copyright Act 2002 and belongs to whoever that Act says, not to whoever printed it.
The Act is published by the Nepal Law Commission, the classification by WIPO, and applications are decided by the Department of Industry. The full filing route is in how to register a trademark in Nepal.
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Send us the artwork, the designer's paperwork and what you sell under it, and we will say which format to file and how many categories it needs. Start with trademark registration, or put the label to us through contact before the signage is ordered.
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